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TIA Venture Introduces Model to Automate Vanilla Farming Contributing Writer Tue, 07/15/2025 - 11:32 “Vanilla is everywhere,” says Jahanvi Chamria ’28. “It’s there in chocolate, perfumes, and almost every dessert in some quantity.” So when she and Diya Badola ’25 launched a TIA venture focused on hydroponic farming — a method of growing plants in a water-based nutrient solution without soil — they chose to center their efforts on vanilla: a valued, notoriously delicate crop. Their venture, Shneer Agritech, introduces a fully automated hydroponic system designed to to halve production time and significantly reduce labor costs. Based in Jaipur, India, Shneer Agritech operates on a small plot of land where Chamria and Badola are testing their technologies. A computer science and physics major, Chamria credits “Colgate’s focus on a well-rounded education” for strengthening her ability to “conduct research and grasp new scientific concepts.” For the venture, she has programmed a system of sensors and alarms to water and deliver nutrients to the crop, eliminating the need for human oversight. “With this system, no person has to physically check if everything’s okay,” she explains. “The system just takes care of itself, and it fully automates labor costs.” When pH and carbon dioxide levels fall below a certain threshold, the sensors activate, triggering the delivery of water or nutrients through a network of tubes. Though the crop grows without soil, it is supported by a porous aggregate — in this instance, lava rocks — which allow for proper drainage. The method, Chamria and Badola report, uses “roughly 80% less water than traditional vanilla farming.” “Vanilla is one of the world’s most valuable spices, yet traditional farming is inefficient, costly, and environmentally unstable,” adds Chamria. “Our smart irrigation system ensures precisely timed nutrient dosing, while a built-in filtration unit preserves water purity and reduces waste.” Chamria and Badola’s first batch, harvested this year, consisted of about 16 plants grown in 1.5 years — half the time needed for traditional cultivation. Their larger mission further addresses volatility and exploitation in the global vanilla trade, particularly in Madagascar, where the bulk of the world’s vanilla is produced. “With rising global demand and increasing preference for ethically sourced, premium ingredients, we’re aiming to provide food manufacturers, importers, and fragrance companies with a reliable, high-quality vanilla supply,” says Chamria. In the coming months, the venture will continue to take shape as the team participates in the TIA Summer Accelerator, an eight-week program designed to help students and recent alumni build their ideas into businesses. “We were able to grow one batch, and it turned out pretty well. Now, through TIA, we’re looking at a larger setup,” says Chamria. “Of course, we have a robust, working idea — I’m confident that our TIA mentors will continue to help us transform it into a sustainable business.”   Entrepreneurship News and Updates Student tia

Counseling and Student Health Services Launch Unified Health Records System tmfonda@colgate.edu Thu, 07/03/2025 - 15:06 A new, unified electronic health records (EHR) system now allows consenting students to receive coordinated care across Colgate’s Health and Wellness (H&W) services. The development is made in an effort to reaffirm the University’s commitment to whole-person health and data security. Spearheaded by Assistant Vice President for Wellness and Director of Counseling and Psychological Services Dawn LaFrance and her H&W colleagues, the new system enables shared HIPAA-compliant communications and access to comprehensive student records. LaFrance praises the EHR as “a way to approach the healthcare that we provide students in a more holistic way.” Headaches, for example, might be a concern that Student Health Services would help with, “but they may also be stress-related,” says LaFrance. “In order to really be thoughtful about the mind and body working so closely together, an integrated system helps us put all of those pieces in place.” To opt in, students arriving in the fall semester must consent to share healthcare communications across their care team, which may include staff from the Counseling Center, Haven, the Shaw Wellness Institute, and Student Health Services. “Students should know that this system does not involve the dean’s office or the faculty — it’s just these four departments,” says LaFrance. Along with the use of this new system, LaFrance adds, “we’re holding more staff meetings to promote shared wellness across departments. The more that we can do those kinds of things, the more that we’ll be able to use each other’s expertise when we’re helping a student.”   Campus Life Wellness Faculty & Staff

Colgate in the Media: June 2025 kputman@colgate.edu Tue, 07/01/2025 - 14:56 Colgate University faculty, staff, and alumni regularly provide their expertise and contribute to national and regional media outlets, shaping discussions around vital research and current events.  Colgate Receives $50M Gift for Its Third Century Campaign Inside Higher Ed Five Alumni Give Colgate University A Record $105 Million Forbes Colgate U. Lands $105 Million for Student Housing Campus The Chronicle of Philanthropy 3 Colgate projects: How do they affect the university and the Village of Hamilton? Observer-Dispatch Is the Trump administration helping ‘viewpoint diversity’ on campus? The academy has something to say Deseret News, President Brian W. Casey Sending Good Vibes Harper’s Bazaar, Artist Devon Cunningham Former Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner on her new book, 'Madam Mayor' Spectrum News 1, Charles Evans Hughes Visiting Chair of Government and Jurisprudence in the Department of Political Science Stephanie Miner This College Student Wanted Privacy - His College Couldn't Give Him Any Hackernoon, Assistant Professor of Computer Science Noah Apthorpe Gotham EDU Film And Media Career Development Program Sets 2025 Cohort Deadline, Isabella Ohrt ’25, Brittany Cohen ’26, Grace Owusu-Amoah ’26, and Shuhei Matsutoya ’28 New York Sirens select Kristýna Kaltounková with No. 1 pick in 2025 PWHL Draft The Athletic, Kristyna Kaltounkova ’25 Antonio Delgado is running for New York governor, challenging Kathy Hochul Gothamist, Antonio Delgado ’99 US president Donald Trump officially nominates new ambassador to Romania Romania-Insider.com, Darryl Nirenberg ’81 Faculty News Alumni News and Updates Alumni Faculty & Staff

Jennifer Brice to Serve as Gretchen Hoadley Burke ’81 Endowed Chair in Regional Studies for 2025–26 sdevries@colgate.edu Thu, 06/26/2025 - 14:47 Professor of English and Creative Writing Jennifer Brice has been appointed to serve as the Gretchen Hoadley Burke ’81 Endowed Chair for regional studies for the 2025–26 academic year. Brice is the author of three books: The Last Settlers, a work of documentary journalism; Unlearning to Fly, a memoir-in-essays; and Another North: Essays in Praise of the World That Is. She teaches courses in creative writing and contemporary literature, including True Crime and Living Writers. This fall, Brice will teach ENGL 374: Creative Nonfiction Workshop, with a focus on writing about place and the natural world, especially in relation to the upstate region of New York. The workshop will include the reading and writing of creative nonfiction, with an emphasis on the memoir and the personal essay. As part of the course, students will also present a community reading of their writing about the region. Robert Cowser’s anthology, Why We’re Here: New York Essayists on Living Upstate, will serve as a central text, along with a selection of writing from The Best American Science & Nature Writing series, as well as some classics of nature writing by such writers as H.D. Thoreau, Wendell Berry, Annie Dillard, John Burroughs, Terry Tempest Williams, John McPhee, and Sherry Simpson. In addition to readings and discussions, students will also journal weekly and conduct research to create essays of their own as part of a final portfolio of a single or several shorter essays. Brice plans to use the funding and support provided to the Burke Chair to create additional opportunities for the students taking the course, including inviting local experts and colleagues in the biology, geology, geography, and environmental studies departments to speak about the natural history of the region. The course will also include a weekend of hiking and canoeing at Camp Colgate in September with Brice’s students in ENGL 217: Introduction to Creative Writing. At the conclusion of the course, Brice said she plans to include a public reading by the students in downtown Hamilton and produce an anthology of the best student writing from the semester. The Gretchen Hoadley Burke ’81 Endowed Chair for Regional Studies was established in 2006 by Stephen Burke ’80 and Gretchen Hoadley Burke ’81. The Burke Chair aligns with the mission of the Upstate Institute to promote and advance a broad and deep understanding of the diverse cultural, social, economic, and environmental resources of upstate New York through community-based research, the reciprocal transfer of knowledge, and civic engagement.  Academics Arts and Humanities Faculty News Research Centers and Institutes People Faculty & Staff Upstate Institute Department of English and Creative Writing

Learn more about Colgate professors from the things they keep in — or on — their desks. The post The thing is… first appeared on The Colgate Scene.

Tour National Institutes of Health labs with Colgate alumni and students on the 25th NIH study group. The post Down to a science first appeared on The Colgate Scene.

The Office of Undergraduate Studies Program has helped shape scholars for 50 years. The post MomentOUS first appeared on The Colgate Scene.

Above: 1975. Photo courtesy of Special Collections and University Archives. Nestled in the Chenango Valley, with a campus surrounded by sugar maples and northern red oaks, Colgate’s campus is stunning. So, it makes sense that Colgate students like to be outside. More than a century ago, students formally realized this, coming together to create a... Read more The post The Great Outdoors first appeared on The Colgate Scene.

In honor of Colgate’s Bicentennial year, the Picker Art Gallery is hosting a special traveling exhibition, Koolanga Boodja Neh Nidjuuk (Children Looking and Listening on Country), through June 30. The post Repatriation and Reconciliation: The Carrolup Artworks Return to Colgate first appeared on Colgate University News.

Grafters X Change: Branches and Networks brought together Colgate and local community members, eco-artists, and activists to foster creative community resiliency. The post Grafters X Change Builds Community Resiliency first appeared on Colgate University News.

The Mat transforms the flexible, open space of Parker Commons into a vibrant venue where student and professional artists come together to perform music for the community. The post New Arts Initiative Promotes Inclusive Music Scene first appeared on Colgate University News.

April 4–6 marked the campus debut of hybrid media artist Paul Catanese’s avant-garde opera Century of Progress / Sleep. The Ho Tung Visualization Laboratory was transformed for the production. The post Century of Progress / Sleep: A Multi Media Adventure in the Vis Lab first appeared on Colgate University News.

TIA Venture Introduces Model to Automate Vanilla Farming Contributing Writer Tue, 07/15/2025 - 11:32 “Vanilla is everywhere,” says Jahanvi Chamria ’28. “It’s there in chocolate, perfumes, and almost every dessert in some quantity.” So when she and Diya Badola ’25 launched a TIA venture focused on hydroponic farming — a method of growing plants in a water-based nutrient solution without soil — they chose to center their efforts on vanilla: a valued, notoriously delicate crop. Their venture, Shneer Agritech, introduces a fully automated hydroponic system designed to to halve production time and significantly reduce labor costs. Based in Jaipur, India, Shneer Agritech operates on a small plot of land where Chamria and Badola are testing their technologies. A computer science and physics major, Chamria credits “Colgate’s focus on a well-rounded education” for strengthening her ability to “conduct research and grasp new scientific concepts.” For the venture, she has programmed a system of sensors and alarms to water and deliver nutrients to the crop, eliminating the need for human oversight. “With this system, no person has to physically check if everything’s okay,” she explains. “The system just takes care of itself, and it fully automates labor costs.” When pH and carbon dioxide levels fall below a certain threshold, the sensors activate, triggering the delivery of water or nutrients through a network of tubes. Though the crop grows without soil, it is supported by a porous aggregate — in this instance, lava rocks — which allow for proper drainage. The method, Chamria and Badola report, uses “roughly 80% less water than traditional vanilla farming.” “Vanilla is one of the world’s most valuable spices, yet traditional farming is inefficient, costly, and environmentally unstable,” adds Chamria. “Our smart irrigation system ensures precisely timed nutrient dosing, while a built-in filtration unit preserves water purity and reduces waste.” Chamria and Badola’s first batch, harvested this year, consisted of about 16 plants grown in 1.5 years — half the time needed for traditional cultivation. Their larger mission further addresses volatility and exploitation in the global vanilla trade, particularly in Madagascar, where the bulk of the world’s vanilla is produced. “With rising global demand and increasing preference for ethically sourced, premium ingredients, we’re aiming to provide food manufacturers, importers, and fragrance companies with a reliable, high-quality vanilla supply,” says Chamria. In the coming months, the venture will continue to take shape as the team participates in the TIA Summer Accelerator, an eight-week program designed to help students and recent alumni build their ideas into businesses. “We were able to grow one batch, and it turned out pretty well. Now, through TIA, we’re looking at a larger setup,” says Chamria. “Of course, we have a robust, working idea — I’m confident that our TIA mentors will continue to help us transform it into a sustainable business.”   Entrepreneurship News and Updates Student tia

Counseling and Student Health Services Launch Unified Health Records System tmfonda@colgate.edu Thu, 07/03/2025 - 15:06 A new, unified electronic health records (EHR) system now allows consenting students to receive coordinated care across Colgate’s Health and Wellness (H&W) services. The development is made in an effort to reaffirm the University’s commitment to whole-person health and data security. Spearheaded by Assistant Vice President for Wellness and Director of Counseling and Psychological Services Dawn LaFrance and her H&W colleagues, the new system enables shared HIPAA-compliant communications and access to comprehensive student records. LaFrance praises the EHR as “a way to approach the healthcare that we provide students in a more holistic way.” Headaches, for example, might be a concern that Student Health Services would help with, “but they may also be stress-related,” says LaFrance. “In order to really be thoughtful about the mind and body working so closely together, an integrated system helps us put all of those pieces in place.” To opt in, students arriving in the fall semester must consent to share healthcare communications across their care team, which may include staff from the Counseling Center, Haven, the Shaw Wellness Institute, and Student Health Services. “Students should know that this system does not involve the dean’s office or the faculty — it’s just these four departments,” says LaFrance. Along with the use of this new system, LaFrance adds, “we’re holding more staff meetings to promote shared wellness across departments. The more that we can do those kinds of things, the more that we’ll be able to use each other’s expertise when we’re helping a student.”   Campus Life Wellness Faculty & Staff

Colgate in the Media: June 2025 kputman@colgate.edu Tue, 07/01/2025 - 14:56 Colgate University faculty, staff, and alumni regularly provide their expertise and contribute to national and regional media outlets, shaping discussions around vital research and current events.  Colgate Receives $50M Gift for Its Third Century Campaign Inside Higher Ed Five Alumni Give Colgate University A Record $105 Million Forbes Colgate U. Lands $105 Million for Student Housing Campus The Chronicle of Philanthropy 3 Colgate projects: How do they affect the university and the Village of Hamilton? Observer-Dispatch Is the Trump administration helping ‘viewpoint diversity’ on campus? The academy has something to say Deseret News, President Brian W. Casey Sending Good Vibes Harper’s Bazaar, Artist Devon Cunningham Former Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner on her new book, 'Madam Mayor' Spectrum News 1, Charles Evans Hughes Visiting Chair of Government and Jurisprudence in the Department of Political Science Stephanie Miner This College Student Wanted Privacy - His College Couldn't Give Him Any Hackernoon, Assistant Professor of Computer Science Noah Apthorpe Gotham EDU Film And Media Career Development Program Sets 2025 Cohort Deadline, Isabella Ohrt ’25, Brittany Cohen ’26, Grace Owusu-Amoah ’26, and Shuhei Matsutoya ’28 New York Sirens select Kristýna Kaltounková with No. 1 pick in 2025 PWHL Draft The Athletic, Kristyna Kaltounkova ’25 Antonio Delgado is running for New York governor, challenging Kathy Hochul Gothamist, Antonio Delgado ’99 US president Donald Trump officially nominates new ambassador to Romania Romania-Insider.com, Darryl Nirenberg ’81 Faculty News Alumni News and Updates Alumni Faculty & Staff

Jennifer Brice to Serve as Gretchen Hoadley Burke ’81 Endowed Chair in Regional Studies for 2025–26 sdevries@colgate.edu Thu, 06/26/2025 - 14:47 Professor of English and Creative Writing Jennifer Brice has been appointed to serve as the Gretchen Hoadley Burke ’81 Endowed Chair for regional studies for the 2025–26 academic year. Brice is the author of three books: The Last Settlers, a work of documentary journalism; Unlearning to Fly, a memoir-in-essays; and Another North: Essays in Praise of the World That Is. She teaches courses in creative writing and contemporary literature, including True Crime and Living Writers. This fall, Brice will teach ENGL 374: Creative Nonfiction Workshop, with a focus on writing about place and the natural world, especially in relation to the upstate region of New York. The workshop will include the reading and writing of creative nonfiction, with an emphasis on the memoir and the personal essay. As part of the course, students will also present a community reading of their writing about the region. Robert Cowser’s anthology, Why We’re Here: New York Essayists on Living Upstate, will serve as a central text, along with a selection of writing from The Best American Science & Nature Writing series, as well as some classics of nature writing by such writers as H.D. Thoreau, Wendell Berry, Annie Dillard, John Burroughs, Terry Tempest Williams, John McPhee, and Sherry Simpson. In addition to readings and discussions, students will also journal weekly and conduct research to create essays of their own as part of a final portfolio of a single or several shorter essays. Brice plans to use the funding and support provided to the Burke Chair to create additional opportunities for the students taking the course, including inviting local experts and colleagues in the biology, geology, geography, and environmental studies departments to speak about the natural history of the region. The course will also include a weekend of hiking and canoeing at Camp Colgate in September with Brice’s students in ENGL 217: Introduction to Creative Writing. At the conclusion of the course, Brice said she plans to include a public reading by the students in downtown Hamilton and produce an anthology of the best student writing from the semester. The Gretchen Hoadley Burke ’81 Endowed Chair for Regional Studies was established in 2006 by Stephen Burke ’80 and Gretchen Hoadley Burke ’81. The Burke Chair aligns with the mission of the Upstate Institute to promote and advance a broad and deep understanding of the diverse cultural, social, economic, and environmental resources of upstate New York through community-based research, the reciprocal transfer of knowledge, and civic engagement.  Academics Arts and Humanities Faculty News Research Centers and Institutes People Faculty & Staff Upstate Institute Department of English and Creative Writing